Shillong-Sultans

Chapter 5: The Communication Process

Communication has been variously defined as the passing of information, the exchange of ideas, or the process of establishing a commonness or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver. These definitions suggest that for communication to occur, there must be some common thinking between two parties and information must be passed from one person to another For many products, it is not the actual words of the message that determine its communication effectiveness but rather the impression or image the ad creates. The communication process is often very complex. Success depends on such factors as the nature of the message, the audience’s interpretation of it, and the environment in which it is received. The receiver’s perception of the source and the medium used to transmit the message may also affect the ability to communicate, as do many other factors.

Following is the basic model of communication, which depicts its various elements.

To illustrate this, with the help of an example, the sender is usually the company promoting the brand. The communication process begins when the source selects words, symbols, pictures, and the like, to represent the message that will be delivered to the receiver.

For instance, in the following advertisement, McDonalds uses its logo as symbol which is widely recognized throughout the world.

The encoding could be verbal, graphic, animation or musical. For instance, the following Vodafone ad uses animation to convey the message.

The encoding process leads to development of a message that contains the information or meaning the source hopes to convey. The message may be verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, or symbolic. Messages must be put into a transmittable form that is appropriate for the channel of communication being used. In advertising, this may range from simply writing some words or copy that will be read as a radio message to producing an expensive television commercial. For many products, it is not the actual words of the message that determine its communication effectiveness but rather the impression or

image the ad creates.

For instance, the following ad of Chanel depicts the lifestyle that Chanel provides, without using any words in the ad.

The channel is the method by which the communication travels from the source or sender to the receiver. At the broadest level, channels of communication are of two types, personal and non-personal. Personal channels of communication are direct interpersonal (face-to-face) contact with target individuals or groups. Non-personal channels of communication are those that carry a message without

interpersonal contact between sender and receiver.

Decoding is the process of transforming the sender’s message back into thought. The receiver is the person(s) with whom the sender shares thoughts or information. Generally, receivers are the consumers in the target market or audience who read, hear, and/or see the marketer’s message and decode it. For instance, the following ad of Nano tries to depict the affordability, but it is encoded as a cheap car by the audience.

Throughout the communication process, the message is subject to extraneous factors that can distort or interfere with its reception. This unplanned distortion or interference is known as noise.

The receiver’s set of reactions after seeing, hearing, or reading the message is known as a response. Marketers are very interested in feedback, that part of the receiver’s response that is communicated back to the sender. Feedback, which may take a variety of forms, closes the loop in the communications flow and lets the sender monitor how the intended message is being decoded and received.

Traditional Response Hierarchy Models

The AIDA model was developed to represent the stages a salesperson must take a customer through in the personal-selling process. This model depicts the buyer as passing successively through attention, interest, desire, and action. The salesperson must first get the customer’s attention and then arouse some interest in the company’s product or service. Strong levels of interest should create desire to own or use the product. The action stage in the AIDA model involves getting the customer to make a purchase commitment and closing the sale.

This can be illustrated with the example of Indigo’s marketing campaign. The following ad tries to catch the attention of the consumers:

The following campaign arouses the interest of the consumer:

The following ad depicts the international crew, and thus creates a desire amongst the fliers.

The hierarchy of effects model shows the process by which advertising works; it assumes a consumer passes through a series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness of a product or service to actual purchase.

For instance, the following ad provides information about the new Audi car and is descriptive and informative in nature.

The innovation adoption model represents the stages a consumer passes through in adopting a new product or service. Like the other models, it says potential adopters must be moved through a series of steps before taking some action (in this case, deciding to adopt a new product). The steps preceding adoption are awareness, interest, evaluation, and trial. For instance, the sampling ad of Garnier encourages trial of the new product.

The information processing model assumes the receiver in a persuasive communication situation like advertising is an information processor or problem solver. The series of steps a receiver goes through in being persuaded constitute a response hierarchy. The stages of this model are similar to the hierarchy of effects sequence; attention and comprehension are similar to awareness and knowledge, and yielding is synonymous with liking.

For instance, Steve Jobs launched the Iphone 1 with the following presentation.

Alternative Response Hierarchies

In many purchase situations, the consumer will go through the response process in the sequence depicted by the traditional communication models. This is termed as a standard learning model, which consists of a learn → feel → do sequence. Information and knowledge acquired or learned about the various brands are the basis for developing affect, or feelings, that guide what the consumer will do (e.g., actual trial or purchase). In this hierarchy, the consumer is viewed as an active participant in the communication process who gathers information through active learning.

For instance, the following of Toshiba laptop provides lots of details to the consumer:

The following ad of Nikon, too illustrated this concept.

The Dissonance/Attribution Hierarchy is a response hierarchy where consumers first behave, then develop attitudes or feelings as a result of that behavior, and then learn or process information that supports the behavior. This dissonance/attribution model, or do →feel →learn, occurs in situations where consumers must choose between two alternatives that are similar in quality but are complex and may have hidden or unknown attributes. Dissonance reduction involves selective learning, whereby the consumer seeks information that supports the choice made and avoids information that would raise doubts about the decision.

For example, the ad reinforces consumers’ decisions to purchase Nikon camera by showing the number of awards the brand has received for customer satisfaction.

The low-involvement hierarchy, is the response hierarchy in which the receiver is viewed as passing from cognition to behavior to attitude change. This learn → do → feel sequence is thought to characterize situations of low consumer involvement in the purchase process. This hierarchy tends to occur when involvement in the purchase decision is low, there are minimal differences among brand alternatives, and mass-media (especially broadcast) advertising is important. For instance, Maggi has dominated the instant noodles market for over 20 years, and the following ad reinforces that.

FCB Planning Model

The informative strategy is for highly involving products and services where rational thinking and economic considerations prevail and the standard learning hierarchy is the appropriate response model. The following ad illustrates this concept.

The affective strategy is for highly involving/feeling purchases. For these types of products, advertising should stress psychological and emotional motives such as building self-esteem or enhancing one’s ego or self-image. The following video commercial of Tata Nano portrays the joy of owning a vehicle, and thus stresses on the emotions of building self-esteem and enhancement of status.

The habit formation strategy is for low-involvement/thinking products with such routinized behavior patterns that learning occurs most often after a trial purchase. The response process for these products is consistent with a behavioristic learning-by doing model. For instance Raymond’s as a brand is established since 1925, and thus conveys the information, that Raymond’s is a routine buying choice for the consumers.

The self-satisfaction strategy is for low-involvement/feeling products where appeals to sensory pleasures and social motives are important. Again, the do → feel or do → learn hierarchy is operating, since product experience is an important part of the learning process. The following ad of Chivas Regal appeals to the sensory pleasures of the consumer.